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About eWillys
Welcome to eWillys.com, a website for vintage jeep enthusiasts. I update this website nearly every day with jeep deals, jeep history, interesting reader projects, jeep related info, and more.
These quick searches can help you find things on eBay. People list in the wrong categories all the time, so don't be surprised to see brochures in the parts area for example. This section used to be split into jeeps, parts and other categories, but recent changes to eBay will require this information to be recoded.
The links to posts below show jeeps grouped by models, condition, and other ways. Some of these jeeps are for sale and others have been sold. If you are unsure whether a vehicle is still for sale or not, email me at d [at] ewillys.com for more info.
Importantly, the allure of buying a project jeep can be romantic. The reality of restoring a jeep can be quite different, expensive and overwhelming without the right tools and resources. So, tread carefully when purchasing a "project". If you have any concerns about buying a vintage jeep, or run across a scam, feel free to contact me for help, comments or concerns .
Bill spotted this solid looking M-715 project with a generator in the back. Looks like it has potential.
“You are bidding on a 1968 Kaiser M-715 Jeep. 27k miles. This Jeep had been sitting in a garage since 1999 before I bought over this past winter.. I put it in my garage and haven’t had time to go through it. It turns over but doesn’t run…. it has a good frame, solid floors, drivers side rocker below the door is rusty, but the body is otherwise in good shape, has the 6 cylinder tornado motor, manual trans, 4×4, high/Low. Comes with a generator in the back, which I have no clue if it runs or not. Please not that we are selling this vehicle today as is, with a bill of sale, to the highest bidder of this auction AND it will be that persons responsibility to pickup this truck from our location”
“1958 willys mule. Rare one of the first 11000 built. Missing engine and front seat. Pretty much complete of other components. You could put original 4 cyl or update to newer 2 cyl. Best offer.”
“Two military Gama Goat Vehicles off road aquatic capabilities diesel engine multiple spare tires and rims including lots of extra spare parts not counting the two gamma goats to start asking 7500 or best offer willing to hear”
Harmen-Jan of the Netherlands shared this video of farm life footage filmed in the Netherlands between 1920 and 1960. At the 15-minute-mark there is footage of a WWII jeep piling what I believe is hay(?) and at the 19-minute-mark there is a brief look at the same jeep pulling an overloaded wagon. In between (and before and after both marks), plenty of back-breaking-work is documented.
UPDATE: The article below is one of a number of articles highlighting the “JEEP” Tractor from Minneapolis-Moline Implement Company: The NTX. One or both units were also tested at Holabird, so the term ‘jeep’ used to describe a vehicle didn’t originate with the Bantam, Ford, or Willys prototypes.
Published in the Lansing State Journal, Lansing, Michigan, August 22, 1940.
According to a Hemmings article, the name ‘Jeep’ originated with Sergeant James O’Brian in August of 1940:
The UTX went to the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland, but earned its place in history in August 1940 at Camp Ripley, Minnesota, when Sergeant James T. O’Brien of the 109th Ordnance Company of the Minnesota National Guard noted the overall proficiency of the tractors, especially when pulling a stuck howitzer out of the mud. Inspired by the “Eugene the Jeep” character in the Popeye comic strip, O’Brien first hung from the tractor’s radiator cap a sign painted with the word “Jeep,” then painted the word “Jeep” itself on the flanks of the tractor.
Minneapolis-Moline chronicled the christening in a wartime advertisement: “This new MM army vehicle was not a crawler, tractor, truck nor tank, and yet it could do almost anything and it knew all the answers. Because of this, it brought to mind the Popeye cartoon figure called ‘Jeep’ which was neither fowl nor beast, but knew all the answers and could do almost anything.”
However, the short comings of the NTX coupled with the introduction of the Bantam BRC in late September doomed the 6 NTXs produced to the role of a jeep footnote.
It doesn’t mean the NTX isn’t worth anything. An NTX in 2012 fetched $29,000 at an auction.
UPDATE: Vince shared an article from autoblog.com that provides more information on the Rainbow Sheikh (Sheigh Hamad bin Hamdan) who built the world’s largest running jeep. It had been many years since my last post on the subject, so it was time to update this post.
In 2010, reports were that Guinness Book of World Records had recognized the jeep as the largest running jeep in the world; however, I could not verify the record through the Guinness web site. Recently, a huge CJ-5 built by the same Shiekh for his offload museum may have surpassed the flat fender.
Published in April of 2009: I thought it was just a fake keep prop of some kind, but apparently it’s being built on the framework of a large quarry mining truck.
“Willys Jeep for sale, 1948 clean title. When we purchased it still was running then. We had plans to do a Jeep build but are still not ready to do it. It has been sitting out side for 3 years now. We just would like to sell it and make space. I can also tow it to your place! Let me know if your interested”
